This is my first time kind-of, sort-of attempting to do a tutorial so please forgive me for any errors! I'm new to this whole craft-blogging thing ;)
I had really wanted to do a tray makeover for my coffee table. I luckily found this cute wooden one, and I loved the brass* handles. AND best of all, it was originally $14, but was 50% off at Joann! Deals are my favorite.
*the handles actually aren't brass at all! They're PLASTIC! I didn't find this out until I took them off to paint it... they look like the real deal!
So the first thing I did was take the handles off. When I started the project, I knew I wanted to put words on the lines rather than quotes... because when it comes to crafting I have a very short patience and want to get things done as quickly as possible - a sin when you're a crafter, I know. I chose roots, place, family & tradition from a quote that I love, "The South - where roots, place, family, and tradition are the essence of identity," by Carl N. Degler.
Hoping I would find peach spray paint (but of course not finding it) I mixed some acrylic paints I had on hand. It's probably much smarter to use paint from the hardware store, but what can I say, my impatience strikes again. My impatience also lead to the dark dark peach color you see on the sides because it was almost night time when I first tried to do this and I totally thought I had made the right color. The second time, I mixed a bit of orange and pink and a lot of metallic white (metallic was actually the only white I had on hand, but I loved using it in the end because it had a really pretty sheen to it.) I didn't have much paint, so I tried to just paint enough that I'd have space for the letters. Note: Paint the whole bottom if you can. After I spray painted over it, there was an unevenness between the part I had painted and not painted (though it wasn't a big deal to me because I plan on putting something on the one side so you won't really notice it.)
Back on track - after my paint had dried, I used some stickers I had on hand for the lettering. I'm sure if you have a silhouette machine, there is a much simpler/better process for this step, but this was the best I could do! The last step was to spray paint over the whole thing & pull my stickers up!
And voila!
Excuse the messy picture, I currently live with my parents and don't have the most adequate place to photograph my finished items. When I move I'll make sure to dedicate a post to showing you the things in their new natural setting! In my actual room I plan on having a mason jar with flowers on that side of the tray, but I haven't got to make that yet, hence it's substitution :)
So there it is - my first kind-of, sort-of tutorial!
xoxo erikah
